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Category: System Administration

  • Certificate PFX to Cert and Key

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    Use the openssl commands above to convert a windows .pfx certificate into separate Certificate and Key files. You will need the password for the .pfx.

  • Windows Server DNS TTL

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    Its not obvious how to change the DNS time to live on a windows dns server but its easy to change. You need to open up the DNS manager then click view and advanced. Now when you open up a record you’ll see a Time to live (TTL) in DDDDD:HH:MM:SS

  • Backups

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    Today I want to talk about backups. I’m not going to get into all the details about RPO and RTO but just the overall 50,000 foot level sentence that can help you make decisions about what you need. Back in High School I used to work on older Diesel powered Mercedes Benz for my best…

  • Microsoft RDS Licensing Activation Issues

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    Just a small problem but considering I ran into it twice in one week with two different customers I thought I would post a fix for Microsoft Remote Desktop Service Licensing Activation problems. Normally you get your licenses through Open, Select, Retail or something like an MPSA agreement. To activate them you just login to…

  • Tracking down Failed Login Attempts in Active Directory

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    I had a recent experience with a client where a user account was getting locked out but the but the logs on the domain controller weren’t very helpful. Basically besides telling us the account was locked out they did nothing, no location, nothing. After quite a bit of research on google I found this blog…

  • Who do you use for upstream DNS?

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    by

    Derrick
    in ,

    There are so many good options for upstream DNS other than your internet provider I figured I would ask everyone, please post a comment below. Here are some of my favorites but its by no means an inclusive list. Wikipedia has a longer list here Public Recursive Name Server . My current favorite is 1.1.1.1…

  • Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Packet Flow

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    by

    Derrick
    in ,

    Early in my days of learning Cisco FTD it could be hard to get my mind around how packets were flowing and where and when they were dropped. Cisco has some good images showing the packet flow but the one below by Todd Lammle is even better. Posted with permission from the author Todd Lammle…

  • iSCSI and SQL Corruption

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    I’m a heavy user of iSCSI and frequently advocate its use. For me its been reliable and has saved money. However Steve and I have over the last year worked with to clients where the use of iSCSI has caused an interesting corruption situation. The first was a database corruption repair engagement where the database…

  • There are four lights!

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    by

    Derrick
    in ,

    I’m not sure what is it with tech manufacturers these days. They have to make the LED’s brighter and brighter. Below you will see four switches. The bottom two Cisco units have resonable brightness LED’s but Dell EMC went over the top with the S4100 series. They want us to know those fans are working.…

  • Update, Please…

    Update, Please…

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    by

    Derrick
    in

    I recently read a blog post on my friend Randolph West blog about Windows Updates. Please read what he said here. I’d like to take a minute and both echo what Randolph said and expand on it. Keeping your software up to date is important. I’ve heard all the excuses and even used them myself.…